At the end of 2019 a novel virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing severe acute respiratory syndrome expanded globally from Wuhan, China. In March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the SARS-Cov-2 virus a global pandemic. We performed a narrative review to describe existing literature with regard to Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management and future perspective. MEDLINE, EMBASE and Scopus databases were searched for relevant articles. Although only when the pandemic ends it will be possible to assess the full health, social and economic impact of this global disaster, this review represents a picture of the current state of the art. In particular, we focus on public health impact, pathophysiology and clinical manifestations, diagnosis, case management, emergency response and preparedness. a natural and zoonotic origin: two scenarios that can plausibly explain the origin of SARS-CoV2 are: (i) natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer [5,6]. Clinical features and risk factors are highly variable, making the clinical severity range from asymptomatic to fatal [7]. Understanding of COVID-19 is on-going. This review aims to summarize early findings on the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, management, and prevention of COVID-19.
These findings provide the first baseline data on dengue seroprevalence in the country. No recent dengue virus circulation in Tanzania and in the Zanzibar archipelago up until the early 1990s is reported.
The study was aimed to evaluate the malaria over/underdiagnosis and over/underprescription of antimalarial drugs. Between February and March 2007 blood samples were collected from 336 non-severe febrile outpatients attended in two peripheral Tanzanian hospitals. Microscopy and a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) were done locally and the accuracy evaluated by qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Plasmodium spp. The testing was performed at National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani (INMI), Rome, Italy. As a result of PCR, we identified 26 malaria cases out of 336 (7.7%) patients. Microscopy and RDT accuracies were 93.5% and 97.6%, respectively. Overprescription and underdiagnosis rates were 29.3% and 30.8%, respectively. On-field training, clinical management of febrile illness, and malaria microscopy in remote settings should be considered.
Skin disease is among the most frequent causes of morbidity in Ethiopia, showing high prevalence in the general population and being the sixth most frequent cause of outpatient visits nationwide to health facilities. This study was aimed at describing skin disease patterns in Tigray region, northern Ethiopia through a retrospective analysis of 30618 outpatient and 1103 inpatient medical records from the Italian Dermatological Centre in Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, during the period 2005-2007. The leading causes of outpatient attendance were eczema (n=6998), mycosis (n=5065), pigmentation anomalies (n=3319), scabies (n=2229) and acne (n=2001). Different patterns were observed for inpatient services, with scabies being the leading cause of admission (n=213), followed by eczema (n=158), pyoderma (n=131), leishmaniasis (n=106) and mycosis (n=56). Since the most common and readily treatable skin diseases are related to household crowding and lack of hygiene, i.e. conditions reflecting low socio-economic status, they are considered to be important contributors to the 'disease profile of poverty' and, in general, to health inequalities. Cost-effective interventions are available to reduce the burden of skin disease. The control of skin disease should be considered a public health priority and included in strategies for health-sector development and poverty reduction.
We conducted a seroprevalence survey among 500 healthy adult donors at Zanzibar National Blood Transfusion Services. Dengue virus IgG seroprevalence was 50.6% and independently associated with age and urban residence. These data will aid in building a surveillance, preparedness, and response plan for dengue virus infections in the Zanzibar Archipelago.
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